The Virginia Supreme Court handed down two significant cases on local government law on September 16, 2010. One was a proffered zoning case. Arogas v. Frederick County BZA deals with a proffer amendment made by the Board of Supervisors at the meeting but after the public hearing, and agreed to in writing by the landowner [...]

In our September 10 post, we discussed Augusta County’s success in seeking sanctions against a pro se attorney for improper assessment challenge. This post will discuss how Louisa County, with help from Sands Anderson PC‘s Mike Charnoff, successfully obtained sanctions against an environmental group’s lawyer and some of his clients, and reference other successes that [...]

The Virginia Supreme Court released two opinions directly impacting local government law today. Discussion of the two cases will follow in subsequent posts. Here is the Virginia Supreme Court’s summary of the case opinions: 091502 Arogas, Inc. v. Frederick County Board of Zoning Appeals 09/16/2010 In a certiorari and declaratory judgment challenge to an action [...]

Localities infrequently seek sanctions. Why is this? In this author’s opinion, courts have traditionally been reluctant to grant motions for sanctions.

The one-year anniversary of the Sands Anderson Virginia Local Government Law blog came and went on July 24. Anniversaries, like birthdays, are opportunities to look back and celebrate.

Today is filming day at Sands Anderson! I spent about an hour being filmed for various video clips that will be used on my firm website page, and on this blog page, www.VaLocalityLaw.com. Other lawyers from various teams are also being filmed.

Sands Anderson is a blogging law firm. If you go to our firm website home page, you will see the eleven blogs (at this time) supported by the lawyers of Sands Anderson PC. Although this is a Virginia local government blog, often the firm’s blogs will discuss a topic of interest to Virginia local government [...]

On May 19, a team of great folks at Sands Anderson and our special guest Karen Harwood conducted a webinar on the State of Vested Rights (in Zoning), 2010 — the first installment of an ongoing series called the Sands Anderson Land Use Forum. We’ve been busy! (This will explain, in part, the length of [...]

J&D Partnership v. Board of Equalization Loudoun County Circuit Court, Civil Action No. 58503 In 2008, as the real estate market stagnated, the Loudoun County Board of Equalization (BOE) received a huge spike in assessment appeals, far more than in the past. This was especially true with appeals of assessments for commercial properties, which are [...]

The Virginia Supreme Court issued three opinions involving localities as parties on April 15, 2010: 090659 City of Alexandria v. J-W Enterprises, Inc. 04/15/2010 In a contribution suit, the trial court did not err in finding that an off-duty police officer working an “extra-duty detail” at a restaurant was performing a public function when he [...]